Step 1 of your New Year’s Resolution – 5 signs that it is time to leave your job!

It is the time of the year that we look at our lives and wonder, WTF? Usually we reflect on losing or gaining weight, exercising more or less, removing negativity, our current relationships and work satisfaction. Work takes up about a third of our life and it is not uncommon for us to merely endure work and not love it. While we don’t always enjoy going to work, we are usually productive enough while we are there. It is not always easy to recognise that it is time to leave your job, but there comes a time in your life when you have to make that decision. If you can say yes to more than one of the below, perhaps a decision needs to be made today and not as a New Year’s Eve resolution!

1.When you are always late for work – When you cannot be bothered to get to work on time, this is a definite indicator that your work is not important to you. Even if you only half care about work you would probably get there in time. I bet you have a lot of excuses for being late, e.g. Traffic was crap, took ages to get coffee, slept in, alarm didn’t go off, couldn’t find anything to wear……….sound familiar?

2.When you disagree with your superior even though you agree with them – maybe you are perverse and just want to argue or maybe you are at the point where everything they say is wrong, even when it isn’t. I probably wouldn’t recommend arguing with your superior unless you absolutely know it is warranted, but arguing for the sake of it could get you into hot water.

3.When organising lunch is more important than your urgent task – lunch is obviously important but it becomes more important when you don’t want to work. Even urgent tasks get pushed to the side when you hate your job. Your attitude becomes “who cares” or “let them fire me”. It would be better to look for a job you enjoy and go out with some dignity. Being fired or not getting good references from your current employee is not a good career move.

4.When you are more excited about Tinder than you are about work emails – This is obviously only relevant if you are on Tinder, but the principle can apply to anything. If you are looking at your computer for every other reason except for reading your work emails, then you have a problem. Try applying those non work related activities to something more productive, i.e. Job seeking websites.

5.You have taken more sick days than annual leave days – this is definitely a sign! Sick days are more often than not used for “mental health” days than real sick days. If you find you are having a lot of mental health days or “cannot get out of bed” days then you probably need to use one of those days off to get another job.

Today is the day you can make changes in your life regarding work. If you need to study, get more experience, work out what you like, then start now. There is no point waiting until you can absolutely, definitely cannot attend another day at work because you hate it and everyone there. This is a New Year’s resolution you want to stick to. Good luck with your job hunting and Happy New Year.